NASA's Next Mega-Rocket Passes Key Design Review

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The huge rocket that NASA is building to blast astronauts toward
Mars, asteroids and other destinations in deep space has passed a
critical design milestone, agency officials announced today (Aug.
1).

Engineers wrapped up the preliminary design review for NASA's
Space Launch System rocket on Wednesday (July 31), giving the
heavy lifter's design, production and ground support plans a
stamp of approval.

"In two short years from the first announcement of the Space
Launch System, we are at a milestone that validates the detailed
design and integration of the system," Dan Dumbacher, deputy
associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and
Operations Mission Directorate, said in a statement. "You can
feel the momentum of the workforce as we produce test hardware
today. We are creating a national capability, and we will get
this country, and the world, exploring deep space." [ Photos:
NASA's Giant Rocket for Deep-Space Flights ]

Experts from around the country participated in the preliminary
design review, examining about 200 documents and 15 terabytes of
data, NASA officials said.

"The review had to be incredibly detailed, so our plans for
vehicle integration, flight software, test, verification and
operations will result in a safe, affordable and sustainable
vehicle design," said Todd May, manager of the SLS Program at
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The review marked the final step in the rocket's initial design
and development phase. The next big hurdle to clear is called Key
Decision Point-C, which will see the SLS program move from
concept formulation to implementation, officials said.

NASA announced the SLS in September 2011. The rocket is designed
to launch the agency's Orion
capsule, which is also in development. The duo is slated to
fly together for the first time in 2017, with the first manned
flight scheduled for 2021.

The first incarnation of SLS will stand 321 feet (98 meters) tall
and carry up to 70 metric tons of payload. But NASA plans to
develop a modified SLS that would be the most powerful rocket
ever built. This "evolved" version would be capable of blasting
130 metric tons into space, officials say.

The SLS and Orion are being developed to meet NASA's ambitious
goals in deep space. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed the
agency to get astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then
on to the vicinity of
Mars by the mid-2030s.

No human has traveled beyond low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17, the
final mission in NASA's famed moon program, returned home in
December 1972.